House Of Rock
by ViolinElectrician
Summary: Things seem to always go wrong at Anubis House. Joy's return is at an unknown status, a new American student has moved in and to make matters worse, Rufus is making life harder to get on with. What's the mystery this time?
1. Return Of An Enemy

Of all times to remember something such as that, this could not have been more inconvenient. With the mystery solved and the cup hidden away, the fact that Sibuna had forgotten this one thing was unfathomable. Patricia lifted the ceramic lid off of the toilet tank and set it on the seat. Making sure to hold her sleeve back, she reached inside and began feeling around for the small bottle. It wasn't there.

"Oh no," she mumbled, before scrambling to put the lid back onto the tank and running out of the bathroom.

* * *

"Where could it have gone?" Patricia asked frantically. Nina, Amber and Fabian exchanged looks.

"Look, maybe someone found it and tossed it!" Nina said hopefully.

"But what if someone took it recently? What if Rufus took it?"

"Well, we don't even know when it was taken. It doesn't necessarily mean that Rufus is back." Everyone could tell that Nina was still on edge.

"Yeah, and, I mean, why would Rufus take it? It's only been about a month since he drank that herbal mix from the cup, and he thought he took the real elixir. There's no way he could have known that it was a fake in only a month," Fabian suggested.

"I think we need to have a Sibuna meeting, with all of us. I'll go get Alfie and Jerome," Amber put in.

"Amber, Jerome was never officially part of Sibuna," Fabian said quickly.

"But I thought that he said that if we made him an official member, he'd help us with Rufus, and you said that he was in," Amber said to Nina.

"Well, yeah, but…" Nina thought about this. "You're right. Go get them." Once Amber left the room, Nina sighed.

"Does this mean we just let him in without initiation?" Patricia said. Nina smirked.

"No. But, we'll deal with that later. We probably shouldn't be worried about the fake, but I just have this feeling that something is wrong," she said.

"Well, are you hearing the voices again?" Patricia asked her. "I thought they went away when you buried the cup."

"No, no voices, but, more of a gut feeling," Nina said. Just then, Amber came skipping in, followed by Alfie and Jerome.

"What's a gut feeling?" Alfie asked.

"Well, a while back, when we accidentally gave you that herbal mix that we thought was the elixir, Patricia hid a sample of it in a toilet tank at the school building, but now it's gone," Nina told him.

"So? What's the big deal if it was a fake elixir?" Jerome asked.

"Yeah, Jerome has a point. Why are we freaking out? It was a fake," Alfie said.

"Well, because it could mean that Rufus is back, and also… see, it wasn't a fake," Fabian cut in.

"What?" Nina asked. Fabian immediately looked guilty.

"Um, you know how I said I threw out the original elixir?" Everyone nodded. "Before I did that, I secretly took some and switched it out with the fake one." Nina scoffed.

"Why?" she exclaimed.

"In case we needed it later!" he defended.

"Why on earth would we need it later?"

"It was precautionary," he said quietly. "…And stupid…"

"Wait, why am I here?" Jerome cut in. "Does this mean I'm now a member of your little gang?"

"Um…" Nina thought for a second.

"Not until you've gone through the initiation," Patricia said slyly. This may have been the wrong time, but if they were going to start Sibuna again, why not have a little fun with it?

* * *

They all gathered around the garbage can, flames burning inside, while Jerome groaned in protest.

"Oh, come on. I don't seriously have to burn it, do I?" he asked, cradling the zombie mask he'd skillfully used in so many genius pranks.

"Do it," Patricia ordered. He sighed and made a face, as he threw the mask into the fire.

"Now, repeat after me," Amber said. He looked at her while she put up her hand, and he preceded to do the same. "I, Jerome Clarke…"

"I, Jerome Clarke," he groaned.

"…Promise to protect the treasure of Anubis House…"

"…Promise to protect the treasure… of Anubis House…" He looked around. "Even though you've already found the treasure," he added quietly. Amber sighed.

"…And all of its secrets…"

"…And all of its secrets," he finished.

"Congratulations, Jerome. You are now officially a member. Sibuna," and with that, Amber and all of the others put their hands over their right eye and repeated the name.

"Great, what's our game plan?" he asked. Everyone exchanged glances. "We don't have one…" Suddenly, Nina gasped.

"The cup!" she shouted.

"What?" Patricia asked.

"Well, whoever took the elixir, if it was Rufus or maybe even Victor, needs the cup and the elixir! We need to check on the cup!"

"Didn't you bury it?" Alfie asked.

"Yes, but what if whoever took the elixir found the cup?"

* * *

It wasn't typical to hear the roar of a motorcycle on campus. The Sibuna gang turned around to see a red and black bike, of no typical manufacturer, come to a stop, causing a cloud of dust. The rider's gender was undeterminable, seeing as the Supras, black skinny jeans, red and black leather racing jacket and heavy duty helmet covered up the small person's body, but as they got off of the bike, it became clearer, and as soon as the helmet was set on the seat, the reddish brown haired girl pulled a pair of aviators off of her shirt collar and placed them over her eyes. She began fiddling with her bike, and so the students made their way inside.

"Um, Trudy," Amber said, walking up to the house mother. "Who is the girl outside on the motorcycle?"

"Oh, that must be Roxana," Trudy said.

"Who's Roxana?"

"Oh, well, you know that the cellar has been made into a room, Amber. You all know that. Victor has been cleaning it out all week. She's moving into the new room, of course." She went to greet Roxana at the door, readying herself to carry bags. "Oh, silly me," she said. "You had your bags shipped beforehand, didn't you, Roxana?"

"Oh, yeah, I did," Roxana replied. "…And, um, nobody calls me Roxana. It's Rock, just Rock." It became clear to the students then, that this girl was American, just like Nina. Why were all the new students always American?

"Okay, Rock," Trudy said. She obviously felt uncomfortable with the name, and it didn't much suit her to say it, but a name was a name, no matter how awkward. "Well, your room is right through that door back there—used to be the cellar. It's kind of an odd place for a door to a room isn't it?" Rock smiled.

"Well, the cellar is where the cellar is," she replied. "I'll deal." Nina immediately went up to introduce herself.

"Hi, I'm Nina," she said, holding her hand out, which Rock immediately shook. It seemed strange to Rock, shaking someone's hand. What did it do anyway?

"I'm Rock," she said. "Of course, I just said that."

"You're American?"

"Yeah," Rock replied. "Well, actually, technically I'm Cuban, but, you know, technicalities." Nina smiled, glad that Rock seemed nicer than she dressed like she was.

"Well, I have to say, it eases my mind a little to know I'm not the _only_ American here, anymore. So, where did you get a nickname like Rock?" she asked.

"Um, well, I used to go by Roxy, but one day, one of my friends shortened that into Rox, and soon it became Rock, and it just stuck."

"It's an interesting name."

"I'm an interesting person," Rock smiled. "And I mean interesting in that I'm not normal, not that I'm saying I'm popular or anything."

* * *

The cellar was very a very oddly shaped room, but Rock managed to find the bed in the back of the room, behind the stairs. As she began wondering what she was going to do to pass the time, her phone began to vibrate. She saw that the call was from a restricted number.

"Hello?"

_Hello, Rock Valentino. I am calling to inform you that the students you are living with are dangerous._

"What? Who is this?"

_They stole a very important item from me and I need it back._

"So why are you calling me? Call the cops."

_I need you to find it for me. The police cannot help me._

"Well, depends. What did they steal?"

_A cup._

"Well, where is it?"

_If I knew that, I would not be calling you._

"Well, why should I help you?"

_Because, I can make it well worth your while, but if you don't, I can also make it very painful for you._

"Who are you?"

_My name is Rufus Zeno._


	2. Future History

Everyone could see that Rock was shaken by something, and it only made Patricia suspicious. Rock shifted in her seat and didn't touch her food.

"Is something wrong?" Patricia asked. Rock shook her head, but it was obvious that she was hiding something.

"It's nothing," she said quickly. Mara and Mick thought nothing of her nervousness, while all of the Sibuna Gang, including Jerome and Alfie, sensed that something was very wrong.

"Are you sure it's nothing?" Nina asked, nicely. Rock nodded, frantically.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure, totally sure. Why would I not be sure?" Her phone began buzzing. "I've got to go." She looked back to make sure nobody was listening and put the phone up to her ear. "What do you want?"

_I've already told you that._

"Look, I'm not afraid of your threats, okay? Just leave me alone."

_I'm afraid I can't do that, Rock. You are the only one I can enlist to help me._

"Why? Why do you need this cup so bad? Just go to the store and buy one."

_You don't understand. See, this cup is special._

"You're right. I don't understand. What is so special about this cup?"

_Why so interested in details?_

"Because I'm not going to just go find some random cup if I don't know why I'm finding it in the first place; see how that works?"

_You're quite insolent, aren't you?_

"I'm afraid so."

_You should believe me when I say that I can cause you great pain if you don't do as I say._

"Yeah? Bring it on, Rufus Zeno." She pressed the end button a little too hard, before turning to see Patricia staring at her, eyes wide. Patricia gasped a little and ran back into the dining room.

* * *

"So she definitely said 'Rufus Zeno?'" Fabian asked. Patricia nodded.

"Yes. She said, and I quote, 'bring it on, Rufus Zeno,'" she said.

"Why would she be in contact with Rufus?" Jerome asked.

"Well, she sounded like she was arguing with him."

"About what, though?" Nina asked.

"Well, she said that she wasn't going to go searching for some random cup if she didn't know why she was looking for it."

"So this could be a good thing. It means that Rufus doesn't have the cup, and he doesn't know where it is."

"Yeah, but what if he gets Rock to start working for him? How can we trust her?"

"Well, Patricia, from what you've said, she sounded like she really thought she was having a private conversation—she didn't know you were listening—and she didn't know who he was."

"But the thing is that I couldn't hear what he said." A door opened and closed behind them, and Rock walked up.

"Why were you listening to my conversation?" she asked. "Do you know this Rufus guy?" Patricia looked at Nina, who looked at Fabian, who looked at a loss for words.

"I think we have to tell her," he said.

"Tell me what?" Rock asked. Nina sighed.

"Tell us what Rufus said to you and we'll tell you everything," she said. "Is it the first time he's called you?" Rock shook her head.

"It was the second time," she said.

"What did he say the first time?"

"Why should I tell you? How do I know who to believe?"

"Because Rufus kidnapped me and threatened Jerome," Patricia said. Jerome nodded in agreement. Rock looked at each person's face, looking for signs of lying, before wincing.

"He said that you guys were dangerous, and that you stole some cup from him and he wanted it back," she said. "He said it was a special cup, and that he could cause me 'great pain' if I didn't do what he said."

"And you had to _think_ about who to trust?" Amber asked. Rock rolled her eyes.

"Yes. Now tell me what is going on."

* * *

"A cup that gives you eternal life," Rock repeated. "Wait, why was there a sample of the elixir in a toilet tank?"

"I put it there in case we would need it later," Fabian explained. Rock looked surprised.

"Why would you ever _need_ it later?" she asked. Nina thrust her hand out, in a 'that's what I said!' way. Sure, Fabian was her boyfriend, but that didn't mean that he couldn't be stupid.

"It was precautionary," he defended.

"Yeah, precautionary if you want to be _stupid,_" she said.

"Wait, so you believe us?"

"Yes, and don't change the subject."

"What's the subject?"

"You don't put important things in a toilet tank and _leave _them there!" she shouted. Jerome and Alfie smirked and chuckled under their breath. "Rufus never said anything about the elixir! Now you don't know _who_ has it! It could be with a student."

"What would a student do with a yellow liquid they found in a toilet tank?"

"Teenage boys do stupid things." All of a sudden, there was a crash and Alfie was on the floor. He had been leaning backwards in the chair and it had fallen. He groaned in pain while Jerome laughed. "I didn't plan that, but case in point," she said, pointing.

* * *

It had just begun to dawn on Rock the surrealism of the situation she was now in. She sat playing with her phone, when Nina, Fabian and Patricia came down. She looked up.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Look, you're in this with us now," Patricia said. "So you have to swear you'll keep all of this under wraps and you can't tell anyone."

"…Or help Rufus!" Nina added.

"Well, I don't want to, but he's threatening me!" Rock said. "I mean, no elaborate threats, but what if he's serious?"

"Well, he is," Fabian said. "But if you work _with _us, we can protect you."

"How are you going to do that? We're a group of high school students—not exactly all that menacing."

"Well, yeah," Patricia said. "…But we've dealt with him before! I think we can do it again."

"Yeah, but if I recall, you said he threatened Jerome, and kidnapped you. I mean, what if it's worse this time?"

"Um, well, we just have to be really careful—and if it comes down to it… maybe we have to ask Victor for help," Nina said.

"Oh, no!" Patricia shouted.

"Patricia, I said if it comes down to it. We wouldn't think of asking immediately." Rock's phone began buzzing again. She bit her lip.

"It's him," she said. "It's Rufus."

"Well, answer it."

"I… no! I mean, what am I supposed to say to him?"

"Say to whom?" Jerome came walking down.

"Rufus, and… why is everyone down in my room?"

"Wait, Rufus is calling you?"

"Answer it already!" Patricia ordered. Rock rolled her eyes and reluctantly put the phone up to her ear, standing up from the bed.

"Hello?" Patricia mouthed the word _speaker._ Rock assumed she meant to put it on speaker phone, so she quickly pressed the button and shushed the others. "What do you want?"

_I have told you that twice._

"I don't care."

_Are you not afraid of me, Roxana?_ Rock had to think of what to say.

"No, no, I'm not," she said nervously.

_Have you told the others?_ Rock gave Patricia a nervous glance, and Patricia shook her head.

"No, I haven't. Why would I?"

_Well, I just want to make sure that you haven't, because you should know what I am capable of._

"Well, that's just it. I don't. I don't even know you… and speaking of not knowing, how did you get my cell phone number?"

_That was easy. 'Mrs. Marks, I'm calling for my daughter. She has been trying to contact Roxana, but has no number. They are school friends and my daughter was too afraid to call and ask. Do you have it?' We all know how cautious your mother can be when it comes to you._

"Oh, that's so funny, not. My relationship with my mother is _none _of your business."

_Look, we all know you are perfectly capable of finding that cup. _

"Do you have the elixir?" As soon as Rock said it, she wished she could take it back. There was silence on the other end, until finally Rufus spoke up.

_I don't recall mentioning an elixir to you._

"I… uh, overheard Nina and the others talking about it. So… do you?"

_Possibly, possibly not, but that is none of your concern. The cup, however, is._

"No, it's not. I'm not finding it for you. I want no part of this."

_Now you listen to me, Roxana Valentino. You are the only person left that I have to connect me to that cup, and you will find it, or suffer the consequences._ The line went dead and Rock threw her phone onto the bed. Speechless, she put her hand over her mouth and huffed exasperatedly.

"Great. What am I supposed to do now? He knows my name, my mother's phone number and my personal number. He knows where I live. He knows that I know about the elixir, and now he probably thinks that I've been talking to you guys about all of this."

"Well, yeah, but—" Nina began. Rock pointed at Jerome.

"You, you're Jerome, right? He threatened you. Was he able to get to you?"

"Well, yeah, when I left the house he would come right up to me," Jerome said.

"I'm dead!" Rock shouted, throwing her hand up in the air.

"Jerome, that was probably not the best choice of words," Fabian said.

"Yeah," Jerome agreed. "…Probably not."

* * *

Rock got to experience the usual Alfie-Jerome spectacle firsthand, the following day during school. Alfie had shot himself across the room on a pair of roller-skates, and flown over the couch in the classroom, which Rock had happened to have been sitting on, and ended up being shoved into the back of it, while Jerome routinely laughed his head off at Alfie's dumb move. Rock lifted herself up and looked over the back of the couch, dumbstruck.

"Alfie, what was the point of that?" she asked. "Are you even allowed to have those in school?"

"When has that ever stopped Alfie?" Jerome chuckled. Rock glared at him.

"You're out of your mind, both of you," she said.

"Are we, now?" he asked her.

"Uh, let me think about tha—yes,"

"Really? Well, at least I'm an actual member of Nina's gang, as where you're but an ally." She smiled, with a 'really, now?' smile.

"Speaking of which; come here," she said.

"Why?" he asked, walking over and taking a seat next to her, whilst still laughing at Alfie-although he couldn't help but wonder why she would tell him anything first. He was never really anybody's first choice.

"I was sitting on my bed last night, after you guys left, and I noticed a weird patch on the wall. I started pushing on it, and all of a sudden, that square of the wall moved. I think it's a door or something," she said.

"Wait, I thought that they found all of the pieces of the Cup of Ankh," he said.

"Well, I thought so, too, but I can't imagine why a patch of wall would be detached from the rest of the wall. It's probably nothing, but I think it's worth checking out."

* * *

"See, look, right here," Rock said, pointing to a clear black line around a small square of wall. Nina, Patricia, Fabian and Jerome all gathered around.

"Well, can you get it out?" Patricia asked. Rock thought for a second, before pushing on the patch again. The small block of wall turned and Rock took that opportunity to pull it out. "What's in there?" Rock reached in and pulled a small object out. "What is it?"

"It's a… bottle, on a chain," Rock said. It was a blue bottle sealed with a cork, and there was a liquid inside.

"What? Let me see," Patricia said. Rock handed the necklace to her, and then flipped over the wall piece in her hands.

"Hey, what is this?" she asked. "There's writing on the back of this piece." Jerome and Fabian came up behind her, staring at the piece.

"What does it say?" Fabian asked.

"'_And so a new mystery begins, where the past resides in the present, telling of the future in history, hidden in plain sight.'"_

"But I thought we found all the clues. This doesn't make any sense," Nina said.

"Well, maybe the house has more secrets than we thought—more mysteries. Obviously there's at least one more," Fabian said.

"What does that mean? _'Where the past resides in the present, telling of the future in history…'_"

"There can't be another mystery. This has to be some kind of joke, and what is this pendant for anyway?" Patricia asked.

"Well, hold on—you said this was Egyptian based, right?" Rock asked. Nina nodded. "Well, The future in history—history is things like Ancient Egypt, right? The future in the past; there's some people who theorize that Ancient man—specifically Ancient Egypt—had futuristic technology, well beyond even _ours._ If they're talking about where the _past resides in the present, telling of the future in history,_ they must be referring to something old, like an old book, maybe, that is in the house, hidden in plain sight, which talks about that subject."

"So we're looking for an old book that talks about Ancient man having futuristic technology, but where is plain sight?" Fabian asked.

"Anywhere you can just look and see it. If it's a book, a bookshelf could be considered plain sight," Nina suggested. "It shouldn't be too hard to find a book."

"Well, yeah, but what if it's somewhere like Victor's office?"

"Does the man read books?" Rock asked. "It seems like all he does is gripe and watch us like hawks."


	3. Just Not Okay

Nina shifted in her chair in the dining room, and Fabian and Patricia watched her. The three were alone.

"Are you nervous about something?" Patricia asked, suspiciously.

"Well, it's not important," Nina said.

"Are you sure?" Fabian asked. "You know you can tell us anything." She smiled wanly.

"It's just, this whole new mystery thing—I mean, everything is going wrong all over again, and so quickly. We've basically let Rock join Sibuna but we can't be totally sure we can trust her. I mean, aren't we rushing this by letting her help us? We didn't let Jerome and Alfie automatically help us, and we've known them for way longer."

"Well, it's a little late, now, Nina. We've told her everything, and you know me; I'm not exactly the most trusting person out there," Patricia said.

"Yeah, that made me wonder—why did you trust her so fast, Patricia? I mean, you made my life miserable for the longest time when I first showed up."

"Well, I guess I didn't trust her before, but when I heard her arguing with Rufus, I started to trust her a little bit. I mean, it might be careless since we don't trust Victor entirely, even though he constantly argued with Rufus, but I don't think she's dangerous, or that she could really do anything to jeopardize our search."

"Plus," Fabian cut in. "…We never would have found that pendant and the first clue of the new search if it hadn't have been for her—not to mention that she solved it almost immediately. We've known her for maybe two, three days, and it appears that she's already proven herself."

"Well, I guess we can trust her, but I don't want to initiate her into Sibuna just yet!"

"I can understand that," Patricia said. "But what I don't understand is why that pendant would even be here, and why there would be more clues if we've already found the cup." Nina looked up grimly.

"I'm beginning to think that this house has more secrets than anyone, even Victor or Sarah, knew about, but I'm almost certain that Rufus knows more than he's revealed."

* * *

"I don't see anything on this bookshelf," Rock said, shaking her head. It was a newer bookshelf that had just been put in recently, but it had come from the attic, so it only seemed logical that any clue would be there. Nina stood up from the couch.

"There's got to be something," she said.

"Well, maybe it's not on this particular bookshelf—maybe it's in Victor's office, like Fabian said earlier or maybe it's not on a bookshelf. I might even be wrong about what I said; you know, about the futuristic technology existing in the past? It could be something else, entirely."

"Why does this kind of thing always have to be so complicated?" Jerome said in an irritated tone, walking up from the table. Nina rolled her eyes. Rock absently pinched the bridge of her nose, before bringing her hand down and emphasizing her words by making gestures with that hand.

"I don't think it's so simple that it's on a bookshelf. I mean, sure, it said it's in plain sight, but what if the thing itself is not in plain sight?" she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it could always mean that the hiding spot is in plain sight."

"That doesn't make sense. Are you saying this is some sort of misleading backdoor clue?" Nina asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

* * *

It was hard to tell if Rock was listening, because she was negligently staring at the floor in Nina's room. All of Sibuna was in the room, and they were discussing possibilities for what the clue meant.

"It does say _hidden_ in plain sight, which is sort of contradictory of itself," Fabian said.

"Well, then does it mean that there's, like, a door in plain sight, and the next thing is hidden behind it?" Amber asked.

"What if it's a code of some sort?" Patricia inquired.

"Why is that floorboard loose?" Rock asked, all of a sudden. Everyone looked at her, wondering why she chose _this_ time to ask that.

"I don't know. I never noticed," Nina said. Rock pointed at the board in the middle of the floor, clearly at least a centimeter too small for its position.

"How can you not notice? Anybody would've seen it. It's right there in plain sight," she said. Suddenly a metaphorical light bulb flickered above Fabian's head.

"Did you just say 'plain sight,' Rock?" he asked. She looked up, knowing fully where he was going with this.

"'Plain sight…' help me lift this board up!" Fabian and Rock rushed over to the board and struggled to pull it out. After a little bit of shifting, it came right out. "Hold this." She handed the board to Fabian and reached into the hole. She felt around a little bit before her eyes lit up and her arm emerged, holding a dusty, red canvas book.

"Oh, my gosh," Nina said. "What is it? I mean, it's a book obviously, but what does it say?" Rock flipped it once or twice before using her sleeve to wipe away the thick layer of dust on the front.

"It's a National Geographic," she said. "…From 1888! It says… 'The Future-Past Connection.'"

"That sounds a lot like what we're looking for," Nina said, smiling.

"But… that doesn't make any sense," Rock said. "National Geographic never published this…"

"How do you know?" Patricia asked.

"Well, on my laptop, I have an archive of every issue of NatGeo ever published—I got a six disc set at Cosco—but… I've never seen this one before."

"So it's a never published issue of National Geographic?"

"Exactly. But… how would it get here? Why wouldn't they publish it?" Rock wiped more of the dust off, and saw that there was an Eye of Horus etched on the cover. "Um…" She tried to open it, but it wouldn't. "It won't open. Eye of Horus… Nina… You said that you had some sort of necklace—a locket, yeah. You said it opened doors and stuff. Well, this book is not opening, and there's an Eye of Horus on the front. I know it's a leap of faith, but maybe your locket can get the book open."

"Give it to me," Nina said. Rock handed it to her. She pulled the locket out of her shirt and set the book on the floor. She sat cross-legged on the floor in front of it.

"Uh, Fabian, maybe you should put that floorboard back in the floor," Rock said to Fabian, who was still standing holding the board.

"Oh." He quickly knelt down and put the board back in its spot and turned to see what Nina was doing. She held the locket close to the book cover and it began to glow. Suddenly, the cover flew open and the pages flipped themselves to the center of the book. In the fold of the pages, there was a tattered piece of paper. Nina picked it up.

"There's nothing written on it," she said.

"Let me see," Rock said. Nina gave her the paper. She looked confused. "Yeah, there is."

"What? No, there's not."

"Yeah. I can see writing, right here," Rock said, holding the paper up.

"Rock, I don't see anything," Nina replied.

"Neither do I," Fabian said.

"I don't either," Patricia said. "How come you can see the writing and we can't?"

"Wait. Are you playing some sort of joke? Because, no offense, but you don't seem like the joking type," Alfie said. Rock shook her head.

"No joke. I can really see writing," she said.

"Well, what does it say?"

"_Guilt is preventing one's heart to heal, sealing the secrets by what one may feel, face what's been buried to break the seal, and all in good time, may the path reveal." _

"Okay… That was _way_ too good for her to have made up for a joke." Rock looked at Alfie.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence!"

"Um, Rock," Nina said. "Do you by chance have anything to feel guilty about?" Rock cocked her head.

"Me? Why me?"

"Well, there's obviously some reason that you're the only one who could read that."

"I don't know."

"There's not a single thing you could possibly feel guilty about?" Patricia asked.

"Nothing I could think of off the top of my head, no."

"Well, then, it must mean something else, maybe… but if you think of anything, just tell us."

"Why would I want to tell people what I feel _guilty_ about?"

* * *

"Hey, Nina, can I talk to you about something?" Nina spun around to the voice in the main hall. Rock stood there looking sort of nervous.

"Uh, yeah, sure, what's up?" Nina said.

"Well, I could read that paper," Rock stated. Nina made a look that said 'yeah, I noticed.'

"What about it?"

"Well, I shouldn't have been able to."

"What do you mean?"

"Um." Rock shifted back and forth. "Do you promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Yeah," Nina nodded. "I'm pretty good at keeping secrets, if you haven't noticed," she joked. Rock smiled, but her expression soon turned back to it's original nervousness.

"Well, I'm dyslexic," she said. Nina looked sort of shocked, _was _sort of shocked. Rock was the girl with the National Geographic collection who figured out how to solve the first clue, and here she was telling Nina she had a learning disability.

"But you read the clue perfectly."

"Yeah... but..."

"...And you have all of those National Geographic Magazines."

"Yeah," Rock smirked. "But, who am I kidding? Even if I read those things nonstop, I'll never get halfway through before I die."

"Don't say that."

"Well, it's true. I mean, all of the letters get scrambled up on the page and I can't tell what word I'm reading. You know how I've been telling you guys I go into school early to help Mrs. Andrews?"

"Yeah."

"That's a lie. I've been going in early to get help from her in reading that book we were assigned, this term."

"Why are you ashamed of that?"

"Because, it makes me feel so stupid. I mean, in a house with Jerome and Alfie, I already know I would get made fun of, and I've only been here for a week."

"Look, I am _sure _Jerome and Alfie wouldn't make fun of you for..." Nina stopped herself. "Actually they might." Rock nodded.

"Don't tell anyone, okay? The reason I'm telling you is because when I was reading that clue, I could read it perfectly. The letters stayed in their correct order and I knew exactly what it said. That scares me, and I don't _ever _get scared."

"Everyone gets scared, and it's okay."

"No, it's not okay for me. It's just not okay."


	4. Always Neutral

Dinner was never normal at Anubis House. Even Rock knew that by now. She sighed to herself as she prepared to be splattered with food. It was never safe to be sitting next to Jerome or Alfie, but here she was, sitting right next to Jerome, preparing to have spaghetti splattered all over her. At some point, Jerome ended up dropping food right in her lap, goodness knows how.

"Jerome!" she shouted, reaching out and whacking him in the head. He laughed, before returning to a fake-serious demeanor.

"Watch the hair. That takes three hours to do in the morning," he complained. She scoffed.

"For real? It really takes you three hours of actual _time _and _work _and _effort_ to make your hair resemble a porcupine's butt?" she asked.

"I resent that."

"I resent having food dropped on me."

"Good."

"Good!"

"Fine!"

"_Fine!_"

"Rude," he mumbled. She laughed.

"Yes. You're right. What about it?" she said, flinging a spoonful of food right in his direction. Alfie laughed until he quite literally fell off of his chair, causing everyone to laugh, including Jerome—especially Jerome.

"Well, it is as they say; 'what goes around comes around,'" he said to Alfie through his laughter.

"I think 'what goes up must come down' more applies in this situation," Rock suggested. "Or… 'Alfie must go down no matter what.'"

"Yeah, I think it might be that one," Patricia agreed.

"Patricia just agreed to something. My, my, is the world ending?" Jerome asked, smirking. Rock laughed.

"Nah, that's not until 2012," she said. "Of course, not even then."

"Nonbeliever!" Alfie shouted, throwing more food at her.

"Ah, Alfie!"

"If you're so smart, what number am I thinking of?" he asked.

"Alfie, I will say this once, and I cannot _possibly _stress this enough—the numerical system doesn't ever go one, two, three, _taco!_" she smiled.

"How did you know?" he asked ominously. "Are you some sort of… _alien?_"

"Yes, Alfie. You caught me—I'm really from Mars and I've come to Earth to abduct you and eat your soul," she said. "…and maybe your brains."

"Good luck finding any in there," Jerome joked, only to find food shot at him.

* * *

"Ow, Jerome!" Alfie shouted as his best friend hit him in the arm. They walked over to where Rock was sitting, on the couch in the school.

"Alfie, don't you dare fling yourself over the couch this time," she said monotonously, not looking up from what she was doing.

"What are you looking at?" he asked. He and Jerome sat on either side of her and peered over her shoulders.

"This necklace; the stuff in it," she explained. "I have no idea what it is."

"Well, couldn't it be the elixir?" Jerome asked.

"Hidden in the cellar wall, and Victor didn't know about it? I don't think so."

"Open it," Alfie told her. She popped the cork and held it over where he could smell it. "It's not the elixir. The elixir smelled horrible, but this stuff doesn't smell like anything."

"Maybe it's just water then," Rock said.

"Drink it." She looked at him with a blank expression.

"Alfie, that is possibly the worst idea I have ever heard in my entire life," she said.

"Yeah, until he comes up with another horrible idea," Jerome put in. She rolled her eyes as they began arguing.

* * *

"Amber, what, what is this?" Rock asked confusedly as she picked up the tangled mess of beads and string sitting in front of Amber at the table.

"It's a necklace. It just takes a special kind of talent to put it on," Amber insisted. Rock cocked her eyebrows.

"What? Amber, no piece of jewelry should take _any_ kind of talent to put on," she said.

"That's not true."

"You're right. It takes about as much talent as it takes me to sit in this chair. See, watch." Rock made her point by sitting in the chair behind her and dropping the necklace on the table.

"It takes talent! You could've missed." Rock smirked.

"Yeah, totally."

"So, Rock, how's it going?" Patricia asked, taking a seat at the table.

"I feel an interrogation coming on."

"No, no, not that. It's just that, we've been so busy with the clues and all that we never got the chance to learn anything about you."

"I still feel an interrogation coming on."

"Rock, no! That's not true," Patricia laughed.

"Fine, interrogate away. I have nothing to hide," Rock smiled.

"That's what they always say," Jerome's voice said in her ear. She turned to see him right next to her head. She promptly put one hand up and pushed his head away.

"You're weird," she said.

"I was just wondering; why do you have a different last name than your mom?" Patricia asked.

"My parents are divorced. My mom's and my last name is Marks, my dad's is Valentino, but I go by Valentino because it sounds cooler."

"Oh."

"Patricia, I know you're suspicious of me. I'm many, many things, but not a single one of them is clueless." Patricia sighed, defeated.

"Well, it's just, right when you come, all of a sudden there's another mystery. It's just weird."

"Well, there are a lot of things in the world that are weird, Patricia. But, I'm not evil or anything and I'm _certainly _not working with Rufus."

"Yeah, Patricia, I mean, you were wrong about Nina," Jerome said.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I guess I'm just on edge, is all."

"Well, I can understand that, but—" Rock's phone began to ring. "Who is that?"

"It's Rufus," she said.

"No way, he's still calling you?" Patricia asked. She and Jerome both looked legitimately terrified.

"Well, what do I do?"

"Answer it."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Make yourself want to."

"Big help."

"Answer it already." Rock put the phone up to her ear.

"What do you want?" she said through clenched teeth.

_It seems that you ask that every time I call._

"…Because I'm still wondering! I told you, I'm not going to help you, so leave me alone."

_No. Stop playing games with me and do as I say. You are the only one who could possibly find that cup for me._

"No. I'm not. Just go bother someone else. If you don't have the elixir, there's no point in the cup, is there?"

_You know far more than you could have just guessed._

"It doesn't matter what I know."

_Yes. It does, as a matter of fact, because you are lying to me._

"You can't prove that. Maybe I've just been eavesdropping a lot."

_You don't seem to understand the importance of this._

"You know, I really don't, but I can see that you've made it much more important than it actually is. Why would you want to live forever? That's just stupid."

_Would you care to tell me why you think it's so stupid?_

"Well, think about it. Someday, when the world ends, you're going to be alive. I can't imagine how much that would suck."

_That is a ridiculous theory._

"You're a ridiculous theory…"

_What?_ Both Patricia and Jerome looked confused. Rock shook her head.

"That came out wrong. You're _ridiculous,_ is what I meant to say."

_Anyway... it is up to you whether you do what I ask or not, but it is up to _me_ whether or not you live through the outcome._

"Actually, that's up to me, and I'm going to live through the outcome, and I'm not going to help you."

_I think you've mixed up right from wrong._

"Maybe, but this is not about right or wrong. Now, it's about doing what I want just to spite you, and I want to help Sibuna."

_Sibuna?_

"Yeah. You're out of the loop. Goodbye." She dropped the phone to the table and it clattered as it landed. Patricia smiled.

"I think I just gained a whole new level of respect for you," she said.

"Yeah? Well, as great as that is; what now?"

"She's right. We have a strange liquid in a bottle necklace and a clue that makes no sense," Jerome said.

"Yeah, I know. All that talk about guilt—I've been thinking about it, and I have nothing to be guilty about that relates to the search at all. I don't think it meant me, but why was I the only one who could read it?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because you're the one who found it," Patricia said.

"Maybe. If anything, I would've thought that Nina would've been able to read it. You guys did say that she was the Chosen One."

* * *

Dinner was especially quiet that night, and Rock couldn't think of a reason for the silence. She sighed and stood up, but was stopped by Alfie's voice.

"You know your pants are, like, falling off, right?" he asked. She looked at him blankly.

"Yeah, so?" she asked, looking down at her white skinny jeans, held around her hips with a black studded belt.

"Well, we can see your underwear," he said, referring to the red plaid boxers sticking out over the top. She shook her head, blatantly.

"Oh, what? You mean these?" she asked, grabbing the elastic pointedly. Everybody at the table laughed and scoffed at her gesture. Alfie nodded. "I know."

"Well, your pants are like, around your butt," he said. She made a fake shocked expression.

"Oh, well, that's strange. They should be much lower," she said, before reaching down and pulling them lower. Everyone could tell she was just doing this to tease Alfie, who now just sat there shocked. "Oh, and Alfie?"

"Yes," he said quietly. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks. I now know you've been staring at my butt," she said. Everybody laughed while Alfie looked confused. She patted him on the shoulder and walked out of the room.

"Nice one, Alfie," Mick teased.

* * *

"Hey, Rock, wait," Jerome called after the small red haired girl in the main hall, just as she was about to leave for school. She turned around.

"Hi," she said. He looked nervous, and she saw this. "What's up?"

"Um, where is everyone?" he asked.

"Oh, they've already gone over to school," she said, pointing at the door. He nodded.

"Ah," he paused. "Well, do you think, maybe, you would like to walk over with me?" She raised her eyebrows, and he realized his word choice may have turned her off. "Just because, you know, Rufus is back on the prowl and I don't really want to be caught alone," he added. She nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, Jerome, I'll walk over with you," she said. He was shifting around and messing with his hair. Even Rock knew Jerome never acted like this. Rufus must have really made him nervous.

"So," he began, as they started to walk. "Have you made a break with that necklace?" She shook her head.

"No. Nothing. I have _no_ idea what it is," she said.

"This whole thing is so confusing." She looked at the ground.

"Can we talk about something else? I mean, the whole thing makes me uneasy." A look of realization came over his eyes and he nodded.

"Yeah, sure." He laughed. "So… boxer shorts," he began. She smirked.

"Haha, very funny. I don't want to talk about underwear," she chuckled.

"Why not? I think it could be a very interesting conversation." She shook her head.

"You're so weird."

"Yeah, maybe." As they made their way into the school building, Jerome's expression changed. She looked at him, some sad form of jealousy written on his face. She followed his gaze to Mara and Mick.

"You like her," she said. He looked at her.

"No, I don't. No, _me? _Like Mara? You're kidding," he said quickly, smiling nervously.

"No, I'm not kidding." His smile faded. "I can see it in your eyes." He huffed.

"It doesn't matter. She thinks the world of that meathead. What I feel isn't important." For a second, Rock was surprised Jerome had given in that quickly to her prodding.

"Why don't you tell her?" she asked. He looked back over at Mick and Mara.

"I've tried, but it doesn't matter. I'm not good enough for her."

"That's not true."

"Yes, it is. I'm not a good person like that."

"Don't say that." He looked her straight in the eyes.

"Why not, if it's true?" he asked quietly.

"It's not true."

"How do you know?"

"Look, I believe that every person has good and bad in them, but, it's up to that person to decide which side they go with."

"Which side are you on?"

"I'm neutral. I have my bad moments but I mostly try to be a good person."

"Well, I have my good moments and I mostly end up a bad person." She patted him on the arm and walked away, leaving Jerome confused about himself, her, Mara… Life.


	5. If You're Lucky

_Guilt is preventing one's heart to heal, sealing the secrets by what one may feel, face what's been buried to break the seal, and all in good time, may the path reveal._

"What could that mean, Fabian?" Nina asked. They sat alone in his room, on his bed. He looked at her, and brushed hair out of her eyes.

"I have no idea." She smiled. "I've really been thinking about it, and the 'guilt' must be referring to someone with history in the house, so it couldn't possibly be about Rock. I mean, why would a clue be about her when she just showed up, unless the clue was planted recently? It very obviously wasn't."

"Well, who could be guilty? Rufus, maybe," she said.

"No. Rufus may have double-crossed a lot of people, but he certainly doesn't feel guilty about it." The door flew open.

"Guys!" Rock shouted. Her hair was a mess and she looked frightened.

"Whoa, Rock, what happened?" Nina asked, standing up.

"Oh! Well, I wasn't attacked or anything, but my hair… um, well, I was taking a nap, because I was up late reading… and I had a really weird dream."

"A dream about what?"

"Well, it felt more like… a memory, but it wasn't mine."

"What happened in the dream?"

"It was about Victor, only, he was little and he was in his office, with his dad, and he said something like… 'I don't want to, daddy,' or something, and his dad flipped and, like, had a cow."

"What did he say?" Fabian asked.

"He said something like, 'you will refer to me only as sir, you useless piece of nothing, and you will do as I say or I will send you off to the orphanage.'"

"Then what happened?"

"Well, Victor went downstairs and confronted Sarah, only, she was a little girl."

"Sarah! What did he confront her about?" Nina asked.

"He said, 'you useless piece of nothing; tell me where your parents have hidden it,' or something, and then she said 'but, I don't know,' and he said, 'I don't believe you!' and then the dream ended."

"That's so weird."

"I know. I don't know why _I _would have the dream instead of you. I mean you are the Chosen One."

"Yeah, but… maybe, maybe it has something to do with the weird stuff in that bottle. I know it sounds weird, but maybe it has, like, memories in it."

"…A liquid made of memories?"

"Maybe. I mean, who knows?"

"Certainly not us."

* * *

"Hey, Mara," Jerome said nervously, walking up to her in the English classroom. She looked at him and smiled.

"Hi, Jerome. What's up?" she asked.

"Nothing. Uh, where's Mick?" he asked. She looked around.

"Oh, I don't know. I guess he went back to the house," she said.

"Without you?" he asked.

"I guess so."

"That doesn't seem like a good way to treat his girlfriend."

"Oh, well, I'm okay with it." She was okay with it. She was okay with it because of one thing. She loved him, she loved Mick, and Jerome knew that. If there was any way he could make her love _him_, he would've done it in a heartbeat, but right at that moment, he had no plan. He felt so exposed; Jerome Clarke without a game plan—who had heard of it. "I have to go, Jerome." Mara walked off, and he watched her sadly, before turning to someone saying his name behind him.

"Hey." It was Rock.

"Hi," he said.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Oh. I was just talking to Mara."

"Listen," she said. "I know that I said that you should tell her, and I've been thinking about it, and that's not a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Well, she's in a relationship with Mick, and it's not your place. I would feel horrible if you interfered and I was the one who coaxed you into it."

"Well, what does it matter if she's with him?"

"Uh… Let's see. Say I wanted to date you, right? But, you were in a relationship with Mara. I wouldn't interfere, because I don't know for sure if you like me, and I could end up ruining _my_ relationship with _you_ and _your_ relationship with _Mara._ Do you see how that works?" He thought for a second, and for once, had to admit, he had to do the right thing here. He couldn't risk his relationship with Mara. They'd only recently recovered from the Election incident.

"I guess you're right," he said. She could tell that he was sad by this, even though he didn't let it register on his face.

"I'm sorry," she said. "…If it helps." He looked up.

"Honestly, Rock, it's okay. It's totally fine," he said. She should have just let him go on with the Mara plan, because the truth was, it probably would have ended well for him.

* * *

"What are you?" Rock said to herself as she sat at the foot of her bed, fingering the blue bottle. She ran one idea through her head over and over before making a dangerous decision. She popped the cork on the bottle and plugged it with her finger. She flipped the bottle over and back upright, so that a drop of the liquid was on her finger, and, wincing, licked the liquid off of her finger. She gasped loudly as the room began spinning, and it became harder to breathe. Suddenly, she was in the main hall, and everything was black and white. She saw Sarah as a little girl, facing the window with her eyes covered.

_One, two, three,_ little Sarah said. She turned around sniffling, sadly. She turned back around. _Four, five, six._ She turned around once more. A younger Victor and his father stood there, staring with identical evil looks.

_No one can protect you now,_ Victor Rodenmaar Senior said. _Where is it? _he snapped loud enough to make Rock jump.

_I will never tell,_ little Sarah said. Suddenly a pair of hands gripped Rock's shoulders and she was in her room again. She looked up to see Patricia, and behind her stood Nina, Fabian and Alfie.

"What's wrong with you, Rock?" Patricia asked. She looked down and noticed that the cork from the bottle was on the floor. She reached down and picked it up. "Did you drink some of that, Rock?" Rock swallowed and took the cork from Patricia. She put it back into the bottle.

"You were right, Nina. This stuff is liquid memories. They belong to Victor."

* * *

"Hey, Rock," Jerome said, walking up to Rock at her locker. She put a book into it and looked over at him.

"Hey," she said. She sighed.

"So, I was wondering," he said. "Would you like to go to lunch, off campus?"

"Um, like a date?" she asked.

"Well, yes." She had an unreadable look in her eyes, so he switched his words. "No? No, not a date."

"Yeah, Jerome, I would like to go to lunch with you," she said, smiling. He noticed something in her locker.

"Hey, what is that?" he asked, pointing at a red rose. She mouthed _Oh_.

"Yeah, that's from Mark Levin," she said, pointing to a good-looking jock on the opposite side of the hall. He nodded.

"Why did he give you a rose?"

"Oh, he wanted me to go to… lunch with him." Jerome looked at her confusedly. "I said no."

"Oh, why?"

"Because," she said, as Mark made his way over to them.

"Hey, Rocky," he said. She bit her lip nervously, worried that Jerome plus Mark equaled danger.

"Hi," she said in a 'here we go' tone.

"What's happening?"

"Um, Jerome and I were about to go to lunch."

"Oh, really. Well, you just told me 'no' to lunch." She nodded.

"Yeah, because you invited me on a lunch date, and I didn't want to… go on a lunch date with you," she said slowly, looking around awkwardly.

"Oh, but you'd rather go with Jerome," he said, rather accusingly.

"Yeah," she said.

"Why?"

"Because I just do," she said, looking at Jerome, who actually looked hurt.

"Well, maybe tomorrow then, if you're lucky," Mark said.

"Uh, yeah, maybe tomorrow," she replied. "…If _you're_ lucky." She turned to Jerome, who actually looked surprised. "Let's go." They walked away, leaving a confused and shocked Mark Levin.

* * *

"That is so sad," Rock laughed. Jerome smiled and looked at her. They were walking back to the house from lunch.

"What?" he asked.

"We went out to lunch, and didn't eat a thing," she said.

"I know. I took you out to lunch and didn't take you to actually eat. I'm a horrible person," he joked.

"Don't say that," she smiled.

"Why not? It was just a joke."

"I know, but I don't like it when you say it."

"Why?"

"Because you're not a horrible person."

"Well, I'm not a good person."

"That's not true."

"Yeah, it is. I mean, look at you." His expression suddenly turned serious.

"What about me?"

"Well, you're kind, sweet, you see the good in everybody, and I'm just… none of that," he said.

"That's not true."

"Are you kidding? All I do is jip people out of their money and play pranks."

"That is true, you are good at pranks."

"I'm the King," he said, smiling again.

"Yeah, you're the King, even if you're about to lose at a Silly String war." He looked up.

"What?" She chuckled as she pulled a can seemingly out of nowhere, and he found himself covered in Silly String. He laughed and grabbed the can from her. "Oh, you're on."

* * *

Mara looked at the messy duo.

"I thought you went on a lunch date," she said to Rock, pulling some Silly String out of her hair.

"Some lunch date," Jerome joked. "We skipped lunch, went straight to a joke shop, where somehow she managed to buy Silly String without me noticing and then we got into a war with it." Mara smiled.

"Nice job," she said.

"Yeah, I know. I won," Rock said.

"You wish," Jerome said, making his way to a garbage can and pulling more Silly String off of his body. Rock laughed and walked over, pulling some of it out of his hair. He looked at her.

"…Unless that was part of your outfit," she said. He reached over and pulled off a strand that was hanging over her face.

"I still won," he whispered. She looked at him doubtfully.

"Yeah, right. Sure," she said. "You just keep telling yourself that."

"I will." That was when she remembered.

"Oh, yeah! I forgot to tell you, earlier. I sort of... drank a little of the stuff in the necklace." He gave her the most concerned look he'd possibly ever had.

"What? Wait, and you forgot to tell me this?" he asked. "Never mind that. Why did you drink it?"

"I had to know what it was."

"Well, what was it?"

"Liquid memories."

"What?"

"Yeah, as soon as I swallowed it, I had a flashback of Victor as a little kid. Sarah was counting and she turned around and Victor and his dad were standing there. His dad said that no one could protect her and to tell him where the cup was and she said she'd never tell. I was thinking, and maybe that clue—the one about '_guilt is preventing one's heart to heal?'_ Well, maybe it's about Victor. Maybe he feels guilty for betraying Sarah."

"Yeah, maybe, but I still don't understand."

"Well, it's telling us to '_face what's been buried to break the seal._' What's been buried?"

"The cup?"

"Well, yeah, if you look at it literally, but what about Victor's dad? What about Sarah? Victor feels guilty for doing what his father said and betraying Sarah. He didn't know that the tipping of the Scales of Life wasn't symbolic and he felt guilty that he almost killed you guys. If you're thinking about that, then the stuff from the cellar—the coins you guys talked about, the scales, those must have the next clue."


	6. Those Four Walls

Jerome Clarke stood conflicted. As far as he could see, it was him against the world.

He and Mara had never been close. But then, the campaign for school representative had taken place, and Jerome had made it his obligation to help her win. Albeit, towards the end, he had grown jealous of Mick; he had her while Jerome did not, and never would, he thought, and he had turned on her to help Amber—all out of jealous rage, but nonetheless, he had loved Mara, and their friendship had recovered for the most part.

He couldn't say he knew Rock all that well. She was certainly unique in her own way; he had never met a girl capable of building a motorcycle from scratch, with her bare hands, before. He had never met someone so far ahead of her knowledge. It seemed so, on the outside, that she was an old soul of sorts. He had gone on one date with her, but they were not official.

Mara was beautiful, even if her 'geek' persona had covered that up. She had a sweet face, a lovely smile and understanding eyes. The comprehension in her eyes went deep into her soul and he knew that she was capable of empathizing with him; about his parents, his life.

Rock had good looks paired with the tough-girl image that completely masked her inner self. He knew that not many people actually knew her well, but even he could tell that she was smart, witty, sweet and caring. She had an adorable crooked smile, with stunning yellow eyes that saw more than you could tell by looking straight into them. He trusted her, but felt that she might have been too caring.

Both girls were charming to look at, pretty to his sight. He loved them both—Rock and Mara. He loved them with his eyes, but his heart was confused.

* * *

Rock Valentino was not as wise as she let on. She put up a happy-go-lucky front that was about to fail.

She knew that if Mara had no Mick, she would be with Jerome. She also knew that Mara truly did love Mick, even if Jerome's natural charisma caught her affection for a slight time. She was sure that Jerome loved Mara, but she also felt that he may have loved her. She knew that she loved him.

There were many more things that she knew; he was the jealous type, he was a player, he flirted with most girls, what made Rock so special? Nothing did, because Rock was not special.

_You were made wrong._

The most painful words she had ever heard always rang in her head, like the same song on repeat until you just need to hear another one. Thinking about him was her other song.

It was him; the way his eyes lit up when he laughed, how his hair takes on a life of its own—that made her laugh to herself—how amazingly blue his eyes were, his ridiculously embarrassing pickup lines—'Babe, If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together.' He was almost like a lost puppy. She didn't know why. He just had that feel of someone who didn't quite know how to get home. He stood in the streets with those sad eyes, but no one responded, and he felt so small that he began to bark and growl and attack in a need to feel powerful. That analogy almost brought tears to her eyes. What was he hiding? There was more to him behind the pranks and the sarcasm, but she couldn't find it.

She was lost in his mind; a labyrinth of confusion filled with trapdoors and dead ends, always concealing something deeper, a story untold. What she would give to know what made him put his walls up, and even more to find a way inside.


	7. No More Talking

Jerome couldn't help but look at Mara across the hall, with Mick, while he stood next to Rock at her locker. Rock could see it, too. She looked up at him.

"I have to go," he said to her. Before she could respond, he had walked off down the hall. She shut her eyes exasperatedly, feeling that this was a much bigger deal than it needed to be. She shut her locker slowly and made her way over to Mara.

"Mara," she said. Mara looked at her. "Could I talk to you, maybe, in private?" Mick smiled awkwardly at Rock and walked off, knowing that was his signal to go.

"What is it?" Mara asked, turning to her. Rock wanted so bad to be angry with her, but Mara hadn't done anything.

"You are one of my closest friends here," she said. "You know that, right?"

"Well, sure," Mara said nicely.

"…And I can tell you anything, and you'll keep it under wraps," Rock asked more than said, rubbing her hands together nervously. Mara nodded. "You know, Jerome likes you." Mara didn't look surprised by this statement, but more shocked that she hadn't seen it coming.

"Oh, that. Yeah, I know, but I'm not interested in him."

"That's not what I'm talking about. It's just that… well, _I_ like him."

"I know, Rock, you told me." Rock sighed.

"Yeah. I did. It's just that, he went on a lunch date with me."

"Yes, because he likes you."

"Maybe, but he likes you, too."

"Well, I doubt it."

"Why? He told me he did the first few days I was here."

"He did?"

"Yeah, it's weird, because he told me he liked you, and I told him that he should tell you, and then I told him that he _shouldn't_ tell you, and then he asked me out to lunch, and I don't know why I'm telling you this but I just don't understand." Mara took a deep breath and looked at Rock worriedly.

"You're not mad at me, are you?"

"No, no, no… but, I don't know who else to talk to. I think I'm being used."

"Jerome wouldn't do that," Mara insisted, before thinking further about it. "Actually… he might."

"I'm so confused."

* * *

There was a knock on the door and Jerome looked up. He sat up from his laying position on his bed and watched the door, waiting for the person to enter on their own. When they knocked again, he sighed.

"Come in," he said. Mara stepped in meekly and shut the door behind her, before looking at Alfie on the other bed. He could tell that she wanted him to leave, and promptly stood up and did so. Jerome looked at Mara expectantly and she wove her fingers together nervously before beginning to speak.

"Hi," she said. He cocked his eyebrows at this failure to lighten the mood. She sighed. "It's about Rock."

"Oh," he said. "What about her?"

"Well, she seems to think that you've been, um… using her," Mara paused. "…To get to _me._"

"Why would she think that?" he asked, thoroughly caught off guard.

"She said that you told her that you liked me in the first days she was here, and that you—" Mara never got the chance to finish her sentence, because she found Jerome pushing through her and leaving the room. He stormed down the hall and straight into the cellar, but Mara was not fast enough to catch him before he slammed the door behind him.

"Why would you tell her that?" he asked Rock, furiously.

"Tell her what?" Rock asked, shocked, standing up from her desk chair.

"That I told you I liked her, you told her that I liked her!" Rock began to speak but he didn't let her. "I trusted you with private information, and I know now that I shouldn't have. You went and told it straight to the one person I didn't want to know. What is _wrong_ with you?" he snapped. Rock gasped a little as her brain shut down. The saddest part was that Jerome didn't even seem fazed at all by the pain that the one question brought to her eyes. She sat slowly down onto her bed.

_You were made wrong._

"Everything," she said sadly, looking away from him and at the ground. He was taken aback.

"What?" But he was done. He ignored whatever response she mumbled back and rushed out of the room. Rock was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't even hear the door slam.

* * *

"Jerome?" He looked up to a miserable, timid Rock, whose voice clearly reflected it all when she said his name. He sighed and tried to keep his cool, remembering that this was one of the girls that he loved, but he was inwardly angry.

"What?" he hissed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, plainly afraid of his reaction. He stood up, his anger becoming more and more evident. She saw his mouth open. "Please don't yell at me! I only came to apologize!" she begged. "I only told her because I was worried about it. I know I shouldn't have said anything, but she knew anyway." He bit his lip and decided to try to be nice about it, even though it was clearly not the Jerome Way.

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that I might have actually asked you out because I liked you?" he asked, in a strained voice.

"Because what's so great about me? Mara is obviously better."

"What makes you say that?" He was now genuinely interested.

"I…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me. Do you want me to forgive you? Tell me." She looked up to see that his expression had softened, and he did not look nearly as irritated as before. She didn't say anything for the longest time, 20 seconds, he counted. He was about ready to begin another tirade.

_You were made wrong._

"My mom never wanted a kid. I don't know why she didn't give me up, why she would keep someone who was made wrong." He became confused.

"Made wrong?" he asked. She nodded.

"She used to tell me that when I was born, all of the bad things in the world became a part of me, and that's why I was made so wrong."

"Your _mother_ said this to you?"

"Yeah, and I guess it's true, because you, just like everybody else, think something is wrong with me." She looked on the verge of tears, and even if he didn't want to admit it, it broke his heart. He exhaustedly ran his hand over his face and dropped it again.

"That is not true," he told her, walking closer.

"Yes, I think it is."

"No, no, it is not. There is nothing wrong with you."

"Yes, there is. I totally turned on you."

"No. You made a mistake, and I'm going to forgive you."

"Why?"

"Because there is nothing wrong with you."

"There's nothing right with me."

"Nothing right—Rock, you're sweet, kind, pretty, you see the good in everybody, and I don't know why you care what I think. I'm none of that."

"Don't say that."

"Look, my parents left me at boarding school when I was five, too young to understand. That was ten years ago, and the only time I see them is when I absolutely have to. I may say this a lot, I know I've said it to Mara, but they left me here to rot, and that is exactly what I did." She shook her head, forlornly.

"No," she said, drawing the word out. Then she silently laughed. "What's wrong with us?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking up, smiling slightly.

"We're just standing here talking about our horrible sob stories and whining about them. This is ridiculous." He smirked.

"You're right, no more talking," he said. She looked up to say something else, but found she couldn't speak with his lips pressed up against hers. After about six seconds, he finally pulled back.

"Um, I'm going to, uh, go—"

"You should go find Mara."

"Oh, yeah. I'll do that." She fumbled to open the door and walked out. Jerome smiled to himself, glad that his heart had finally made a decision, even if he had to step out of his character for a slight moment to coax it along.

* * *

Nobody spoke at dinner. Alfie and Jerome didn't even throw food. Well, Alfie threw a lot of food but found no response. Patricia, Nina, Fabian and Mara exchanged looks that said that they knew something had gone down between Rock and Jerome. Rock played with the food that everyone knew she wasn't going to eat. Finally, this bored her.

"Where's Amber?" she asked, all of a sudden. That was when everyone looked around, noticing that the blonde girl was absent from the table.

"Oh, yeah!" Mara said in realization. "She's picking out dresses online. Mr. Sweet said we could have a beginning of term dance."

"We're having a beginning of term dance… two weeks into the term?" Rock asked. Nina and Rock both stood up and began walking to the kitchen to do dishes. They barely made it before a jarring scream filled the room and Amber appeared out of nowhere. She tackled Rock excitedly, hugging her tightly. Rock groaned, feeling the wind get knocked out of her. "Amber. Can't. Breathe. Let. Go. Now!" she shouted.

"Oh, sorry!" Amber exclaimed, releasing Rock, who turned to glare at her.

"Dude, _every_ time!" Rock shouted, thinking about how Amber seemed to do that to her whenever she was happy. She rolled her shoulder and popped her neck. "What is it now?"

"I found the _perfect_ dress. It's amazing!" Amber shouted. She turned seriously to Jerome. "You had better not steal it this time, Jerome." He rolled his eyes. Rock gave him an 'is there something I should know?' look. He shook it off, smirking. She turned to leave and everyone looked at a disappointed Alfie. Abruptly Amber turned back. "Alfie, you're going to be my date, right, boo?" she asked, smiling. He looked up eagerly and nodded. Amber turned and left the room, leaving it so that everyone could hear Alfie's heart beating with excitement.


	8. I Love Green

"Rocky-boo, what are you doing?" Amber asked. Rock, who had been randomly standing in the main hall staring at the door, turned around with an irritated expression.

"Don't call me that," she said. Amber rolled her eyes; she was going to call her that anyway.

"Anyway, I found this totally adorable dress for the dance. Now, I want to find you one," she said, cheerfully. Rocky prepared to argue even though she knew that she would likely lose anyway.

"I am _not_ wearing a dress, Amber."

"Why not?" Amber couldn't understand why anyone would hate pants.

"Let me phrase this carefully; unless it wraps around my legs and goes below my knees, I'm not wearing it." It took a while for Amber to connect this to pants.

"Aw, but I found this adorable green one!" She whined. Rock's eyes widened with worry, and she cocked her eyebrows.

"I _hate_ green."

"You hate a lot of things. When has that ever stopped you?"

"Never, but I hate green."

"Well, that sucks because it's your boyfriend's favorite color."

"I _love _green! What are you talking about, Amber? But, I'm still not wearing a dress." Amber rolled her eyes again.

"Why are you standing here staring at the door?"

"I'm waiting for Trudy. She went to the market."

"So you have to stand here and watch the door?"

"No, but I don't want to go downstairs. There's some strange luggage been delivered and I'm afraid Jerome or Alfie is going to pop out and scare me to death."

"Oh… understandable. But, I don't think Jerome would do that to you."

"Yes, he would."

"Well, you're right. I mean, you would know," Amber teased, playing at the boyfriend button. "So, speaking of which, how is the Jero-mance going?" Her eyes got wide as she realized her pun. "Oh, see what I did there? Jerome, Romance, Jer_omance?_"

"Leave me alone, I never did anything to you!" Rock whined. The door opened and Trudy came walking in, followed by a girl. She was tan and had black hair. She wore a blue and green plaid skirt, with a blue sweater vest over a white shirt, and topped it off with a uniform jacket and high heels of a similar tan color. "Trudy, I thought you went to the market," Rock continued whining, pointing to the girl.

"Oh, sweetie," Trudy said, shrugging at Rock, who she knew to have a tendency to whine. "This is Roser. She's my niece."

"Well," Rock paused. "Why is she here?" she asked harsher than she'd intended.

"Rude," Jerome said, walking into the room. "Why is who here?" he added. Rock sighed.

"I'm _still_ pointing!" Rock exclaimed. He caught on and looked over at the girl standing behind a clearly embarrassed Trudy.

"Take her out of the room, Jerome. I think Amber has been trying to get her to wear a dress again," she said. Jerome made a face and threw his head back.

"Why, Amber, _why?_" he joked. Rock slapped him in the arm and pushed him out of the room. He went to go do what Rock assumed was some sort of dangerous plan with Alfie.

"Go with him, love," Trudy said.

"No," Rock said, in a baby voice. "I'm Rock." She finally decided to stop being rude and held her hand out. The girl shook it.

"I'm Roser. I'm going to go track down the kitchen and find some water," she said.

"Here, instead of 'tracking it down,' why don't I just show you where it is? I'm pretty sure I can find it." Rock led Roser into the living room to find Jerome and Alfie wrestling behind the couch. She sighed. "That's Alfie, who is now being owned by my wonderfully responsible and not violent boyfriend, Jerome." Roser just stared.

"I hope you were making a joke," she said. Rock nodded.

"Yeah, but, who am I to ask him not to be himself?" she said. Suddenly a chair toppled over. "Okay, Jerome, for five seconds, could you be anyone _other_ than yourself?" she shouted, exasperatedly. He and Alfie stopped moving and stared.

"Well, hello, I'm Steve," Jerome joked, extending his hand. She lightly kicked him in the leg and rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Alfie laughed to her.

"I'm showing Roser, here, where to get water," she said. "She's Trudy's niece and a new student here; who I'm assuming is going to be my roommate."

"I'll get you water," Alfie offered. Rock shook her head fanatically.

"Oh, goodness, no, Alfie. Not after last time!"

"It was only a little flood!"

"Alfie!"

"I forgot that the water was on!"

"For six hours?"

"I was sick!"

"Not too sick to flood the cellar!"

"So? It's just the cellar!"

"It's my room!" It was true. Alfie had managed to flood Rock's room in only the two weeks she'd been there.

"Oh, yeah, huh." Rock rolled her eyes as Roser appeared next to her, holding a glass of water.

"I found water," she said, pointing as if she'd made some huge discovery.

"Oh, my gosh," Rock sighed monotonously.

"You also found a cup!" Alfie congradulated her. The two feigned excitement to each other as Jerome stood up. He didn't bother to help Alfie up. He finally stood up and went off in a corner, discussing things with Roser that Jerome and Rock really didn't care about.

"Just what we need," Jerome mumbled. "Another Alfie."

"You don't know her yet. Don't be mean," Rock said.

"I am mean." He didn't understand it, but it really upset her when he said that about himself. She was too caring, he knew it, but he wouldn't have had it any other way.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I really am."

"Not as a general rule."

"…Maybe. It's just hard for you to understand because you only see the good in everyone."

"That's not a bad thing."

"It is for me."

"Just because you're cute doesn't mean you get to be mean."

"Fine. I'm not being mean. I'm judging a book by its cover."

"Much better." He smiled triumphantly.

"It is," he said, now making a move to put his arm around her.

"No, it's not. I was kidding!"

"I know." He pulled her in close to him and led her out of the room, while she shook her head at his overall Jerome-ness. They ran into Amber again in the main hall, talking to Patricia and Nina about some preppy new girl, while Fabian just stood witness. Rock pulled her hand back and over Jerome's arm, which was still around her, and grabbed onto his shoulder, putting her other hand in her pocket.

"…Anyway, we have _so_ much to discuss. The dance, the new girl, Sibuna," Amber said.

"Oh, yeah, Rock," Nina said, turning to the tiny girl, who cocked her head. "You haven't, um… did you drink anymore of that stuff?"

"No," she said. "It wasn't exactly the most inviting feeling the first time."

"Well, this new girl, should we worry?" Patricia asked suddenly.

"She's Trudy's niece, Patricia."

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't make her trustworthy."

"Look, I'm not saying we should go say 'hey, Roser, you want to know a secret?' but we shouldn't interrogate her, or make her life miserable thinking she did something. Why would Trudy's niece know anything about Rufus?"

"Should we be talking about this in the hallway?" Amber asked. Everyone exchanged glances, and they broke apart; Jerome and Rock went to the living room, Amber trespassed—Rock noted—into her room to start searching her closet for dresses worthy of a dance, Patricia followed after Rock and Jerome to go find this new girl, and Nina followed Amber to stop her from raiding Rock's stuff. Fabian stood awkwardly alone in the hallway, wondering whether he should aid his girlfriend, or stop Patricia from tormenting the new girl. When he entered the room, he saw Jerome laughing, Rock looking mortified, Roser cocking her head observantly, and Patricia sighing at Alfie entangled in a slinky.

"Alfie, what happened?" Fabian asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Alfie replied, miserably. Rock slammed her palm into her forehead frustrated.

"Oh, Alfie."

* * *

"Amber, get out of there already!" Rock shouted, as Amber tossed things around in her closet.

"No!" Amber shouted. Roser looked up from her bed.

"Go back to your room, and foray there." With that, Rock stood up, dropping her iPhone on the bed, and walked over to Amber. She grabbed the blonde girl by the shoulders and led her out of the room. As soon as they left, Rock's phone began ringing. Roser knew it wasn't right but still, she stood up and made her way to the bed. She picked up the phone and held it up to her ear absently.

"Hello?" she said in her thick British accent. She heard an angered sigh.

_You're not Rock Valentino._

"No. I'm not. Who is this?"

_None of your business. Where is Rock Valentino?_

"Oh, she's upstairs with some other girl who lives in the house."

_Who am I speaking to?_

"Roser Rehmann. Who are you?"

_Rene Zeldman._

"That's a weird name for a man." That was when Rufus caught on that this girl was easier to manipulate than Rock.

_Yes. Yes, it is. Listen, those students you're boarding with, Miss Rehmann. They have stolen something very important from me._

"Oh, that's awful. What have they stolen?"

_A… goblet. A special, very special, cup. Do you think you could find it for me?_

"Sure! What does it look like?"

_Give me your cell phone number, and I will draw it and text you a picture._

_

* * *

_

"Rocky-boo, could you do me a favor?" Amber asked, walking into the living room. Rock looked up from her position on the couch. Jerome, who was sitting next to her, looked up as well.

"Yeah, sure," she said. She didn't bother to mention her dislike of the pet name. That wouldn't stop Amber Millington.

"I need Alfie so we can coordinate outfits for the dance, but I can't find him. I've looked everywhere. Can you call him?"

"Why don't you?"

"I lost my phone." Rock pulled out her phone. "Call faster!" Rock rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I think I have him in my recent calls, and that's faster." She pressed the send button, taking her to the recent calls list. _Nina, Amber—_She read the list—_Jerome._ One name rang out to her and it was not Alfie's. "Rufus Zeno," she said ominously. Amber and Jerome looked shocked. Jerome leaned over her shoulder and Amber took a seat next to her. "It says here that Rufus Zeno called me."

"Missed call?" Jerome asked. Rock shook her head.

"No. It says I answered it… but I didn't." She looked at Jerome and then at Amber, and back to the phone.

"Then, who did?"

* * *

This was a weird place for a meeting. Roser looked around, and then into the tunnels, where a man in black discreetly walked out. She jumped.

"Mr. Zeldman?" she asked. He looked at her.

"Roser Rehmann?"

"Yeah."

"What have you got for me?"

"I don't know. I don't have a plan." He sighed.

"Okay, listen. There are seven people who know about the cup; Jerome Clarke, Nina Martin, Fabian Rutter, Amber Millington, Alfie Lewis, Patricia Williamson and Rock Valentino. You need information from them."

"How do I get it?"

"You are a smart girl, I can tell." _How far from the truth_, he thought. "I know you can find a way to get the information you need."

"Okay. I'll try."

"Now, I would start with Rock Valentino."

"Why?"

"Well, I don't know for sure that she's working with the others. She's said it, but I think she was bluffing. She made up some weird name for them—Sibuna or something."

"Sibuna? Isn't that Anubis backwards?"

"It doesn't matter. The point is that it will probably be easiest to get information from Rock. She comes off as strong, but deep inside I know she's weak."


	9. Concept Of Deadweight

_This book is so stupid, _Rock thought as she sat on her bed trying to read a book for English class. _Actually, I don't know if it's stupid. I can't read it. Does that say 'hat' or 'hap?'_ She huffed in frustration and threw the book aside. "Of course it says hap, loser," she said to herself. "It doesn't say 'hat-hazard.'" She rubbed her eyes exhaustedly. She was about to stand up when, all of a sudden, everything went dark. She was awake, but she was almost certain that she had a sack over her head.

"Hey, what's going on?" she shouted.

"Be quiet," a voice hissed at her. Who would possibly be kidnapping her in the middle of the day? She hoped that someone had come back to the house for lunch, other than herself, but she knew that everyone was out about their usual business—even Jerome. Unfortunately, she was so startled; she'd forgotten the concept of 'deadweight.'

* * *

"Hey, where's Rock?" Patricia asked, walking into the living room after school. "Amber's looking for her. Something about a dress." Jerome and Alfie looked up.

"No, I haven't seen her anywhere," Jerome said. All of a sudden his phone vibrated. He picked it up, to see a text message from Rock.

_Help. The idiot has kidnapped me. Snuck out my phone when she was calling Rufus._ He quickly tapped out a reply.

_Where are you? What's going on?_ After about five seconds, he received another message.

_Roser. Tunnels. Rufus. Hostage. _He looked up.

"Rock has been taken hostage by Rufus and Roser in the tunnels," he translated. Patricia's eyes went wide and she ran out of the room. Alfie and Jerome sat there hoping this was Rock's idea of revenge for some prank they'd pulled. No cigar.

* * *

"What do we do? What's our plan of action?" Alfie asked. The remaining six members of Sibuna, minus Rock, sat in Nina's room. Nina winced, knowing that the idea she was about to tell them was one they wouldn't like.

"Maybe we should… tell Victor."

"No!" the other five yelled in unison. She looked regretful but soon snapped out of it.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do, guys?" she asked loudly. "We can't just let him keep her!" Nobody knew how to answer that question.

"Maybe we should call Rufus, and see what he wants," Patricia suggested.

"We already know what he wants—the cup—and we can't give it to him."

"So we give him, I don't know, a fake location for it, maybe," Fabian put in.

"It'll never work. He'll want us to give it to him and then he'll take her away until he verifies that it's there. Then he might hurt her," Jerome said. "Look, she said 'Tunnels.' Maybe she left some sort of clue near the tunnels. We should look there first."

"What? The tunnels where you met Rufus all those times?" Nina asked. Jerome nodded.

"Yeah, maybe she left a clue."

"You know, I'm getting tired of clues."

* * *

Jerome cringed, thinking of the unpleasant encounters he'd shared with Rufus at these tunnels. He was forced to suck it up, though, because he couldn't just abandon Rock. _Please have left something,_ he begged silently. He was jarred out of thought by a hand on his arm. He turned to see Nina, followed by Fabian—who had insisted on going with his girlfriend, which made Jerome upset with himself for not being with Rock when she was kidnapped—and Patricia.

"We'll find her, Jerome," Nina consoled him. He made no expression to show his worry, even though everyone knew that he was. They began looking around and searching in bushes.

"Hey, what's that?" Patricia asked as something caught her eye. There was a line on the ground. It looked as though someone had dragged their foot behind them. Rock must have done it when Rufus was dragging her, in order to leave some sort of sense of which direction she'd gone. "Look. It's a dragging mark."

"Whatever made it went that way," Fabian said, pointing to the left of the tunnel entrance. "So, what do we do now?"

"We go that way! What do you think we do, Fabian?" Jerome asked, slightly more frantically than he'd meant to. Everyone looked shocked, but soon brushed it off and began walking that way.

"Hey, more drag marks," Fabian said. They followed a trail of drag marks out towards a road. Rock sat in the middle of the road, her hands tied behind her back as well as her ankles in front of her. There was a Green bandana covering her mouth, preventing her from speaking. As soon as she saw them, panic registered in her eyes and she shook her head frenetically. Fabian, Nina, Patricia and Jerome stopped walking.

"What?" a dark voice asked. Rufus came up behind Rock. "You're scared?" he taunted. "So long as you have what I've come for, your friend is yours to take. But if you don't…" He made his point by bending over and wrapping his arm around Rock's neck, pulling her into a standing position. He squeezed tight enough to hurt her but not enough to stop her breathing. "Give me the cup."

"We'll tell you where it is," Nina began. "But we haven't got it." Fury practically shot out of Rufus' eyes.

"You hear that, Rock? They haven't got it," he said. "They came to help you, but they haven't got it. That is one smart boyfriend you have." She lifted her hands up and tried to escape his grip. She shook and flailed, and again forgot the concept of 'deadweight.' This only angered him and he gripped tighter. Jerome, Nina, Patricia and Fabian could hear her making a choking, wheezing noise.

"We'll tell you where it is! Don't hurt her!" Jerome shouted.

"…Tell me where it is? You think that will help? How am I supposed to get it then? Did you seriously think that would work?" He didn't release his chokehold and they could only watch as Rock's eyes rolled up in her head and she passed out. Seeing that Rock was no longer moving, Rufus threw her on the ground in front of him. "Good luck reviving her from that, you worthless children!" he shouted, running to his van and driving off. As soon as they were sure he was gone, they ran over to the collapsed Rock. Nina bent close to her mouth and listened for breath.

"She's not breathing," she said worriedly. "…Like _not_ breathing, at all."

"We've got to take her back to the house," Fabian said. No more words needed to be said. Jerome picked her up and the four began walking quickly back, hating the concept of 'deadweight.'

* * *

"Trudy! Trudy!" Patricia shouted as soon as they entered the house. The housemother entered the main hall smiling, but her smile soon faded.

"Oh, my goodness," she said. "What's happened?" Patricia looked at Nina who looked at Fabian who looked at Jerome, and back to Trudy after realizing that Jerome was not going to say anything.

"We were… wrestling… and it got a little out of hand," Fabian lied. Trudy sighed apprehensively.

"Fabian, you should know better to pull a chokehold on a girl half your size," she scolded. All of a sudden, Jerome's head shot up.

"It doesn't matter what he should or shouldn't have done. We need an ambulance. She's not breathing!" he shouted. Trudy shifted for a second, trying to figure out what to do. Finally she ran back towards the phone and dialed the hospital.

* * *

The ambulance arrived in a matter of about five minutes, and by then, all eight of the other Anubis House boarders, along with Trudy and Victor were gathered in the main hall, watching Rock be wheeled out of the house with an oxygen mask over her face.

"Is she going to be all right?" Mara asked, genuinely concerned. One of the paramedics looked at all of the students.

"She should be fine, and back at the school within a couple of days. In the future, though," she paused and looked at Fabian. "…You should really be more cautious when wrestling." Fabian sighed. He was more than glad she was going to be okay, but he didn't like taking the blame for something Rufus had done.

"You're right. I wasn't paying attention," he feigned regret. Nina gave him a sympathetic look. His acting was far too good for anyone to stay mad at him for this, though. The paramedic left and the students stood around awkwardly, wondering what to do. Mara and Mick walked to the kitchen and Trudy left, feeling horrible about the whole situation—even if it wasn't her fault at all. Victor didn't seem to care, go figure, and just walked back up the stairs to his room.

"You hurt her wrestling?" Alfie asked after Mick, Mara, Trudy and Victor were out of earshot.

"No, Alfie. Rufus did it," Jerome said quietly. He turned and walked out of the room, mumbling something about being 'tired of that idiot messing with me.'

"Well, she should be okay, at least," Amber said. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Where's Roser?" she asked randomly. Glances were exchanged wondering if the traitor was going to return.

"What should we do about her? She's the one who caused this," Patricia said.

"We can't do much. If we went to teachers about her, we'd have to tell them what really happened. We'll just have to keep a closer eye on her."


	10. Traitor

All of Sibuna wished they could say something to Roser, who sat in Rock's chair, even though there was a chair on the opposite end, about her massive betrayal, but with Mara and Mick in the dark about the situation, saying something could prove a mistake. The newcomer looked oblivious as to the death glares Patricia was shooting her from across the table, paired with suspicious glances from Alfie, Amber and Fabian, who was on the receiving end of a sympathetic look from Nina for his taking responsibility for the whole fiasco, while Jerome only looked up every now and again with his eyes, but clearly jarred by everything that had happened. But, all the while, amidst the stares and glowering, Roser picked at her food, humming to herself and smiling as if nothing had happened. Mick looked awkward in the tension and Mara could _feel _it, but was too busy worrying about her friend in the hospital. They all had one question on their minds; how had it happened that the entire house was now turned into a silent madhouse of danger and lunacy?

"Would you stop humming that ridiculous song?" Jerome snapped at Roser, who looked up and gave him sad eyes, clearly hoping he would feel sorry and comfort her, like he would've done with Rock, but _not_ this one. Jerome had officially taken back his comment from earlier, when he'd said she was a female Alfie, as Rock had demanded he do, but instead replaced it with a new one; she was dumb as a doornail. Instead of apologizing to her for his question, he gave her a coaxing look as if to say, 'yes, that's what I said.' Next to him, Mara finally stood up, breaking the long silence, and picked up her plate, motioning to Mick for him to follow her and help her with the dishes in the kitchen. Patricia looked over to make sure they couldn't hear anything at the table, before returning to her death glare.

"Traitor," she hissed. Roser looked up, faking surprise.

"I'm the traitor? What about you?" she asked.

"What are you going on about?"

"How you stole that cup from Rufus Zeno? I know all about that. You shouldn't steal. It isn't right." The only person who didn't scoff at this was Jerome.

"We stole the cup from Rufus? He never _had _the cup," Nina put in.

"Really? Because he told me he did." It irritated everyone that she sounded so matter-of-fact, like she knew she was going to win this argument, but she wasn't—not if Sibuna had a thing to do about it.

"Whatever you say, but you should know that if you take that cup and give it to Rufus, he's just going to kill people and try to take over the world."

"Yeah, right. He wouldn't do that. He seemed like a perfectly nice guy."

"Right," Patricia said. "That's how he seemed to me, too, and Jerome, until he kidnapped me and locked me in a warehouse. Oh, not to mention he threatened to mummify Jerome alive."

"What are you talking about? He wouldn't ever do that."

"You're just an idiot, not worth our time," Jerome said, standing up and leaving the room. Everybody knew how much nerve it had taken him to let that go, to let her sit there pain-free and victorious as Rock laid in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask. "Unfair."

* * *

Everyone, except Jerome who was not there, looked up as Trudy walked in, followed by Nurse Delia, the nurse who had tended to Alfie when he was in the hospital.

"Nurse Delia!" Alfie said, smiling. "Where's Rock? Is she alright?"

"Ah, well, sadly, she didn't make it through last night," Delia said ruefully. Everybody's faces fell and they didn't know what to say. That was when another person entered the room.

"Nurse Delia, come on. You've had your fun. Just leave them alone," Rock said, standing in the doorway.

"Nurse Delia!" Alfie called. It was followed by other jeers and comments. Delia smiled and waved, triumphantly, offering a winning smirk to Alfie, as she backed out of the room and left.

"You both scared us! What's wrong with you?" Mara said, looking up from the couch. Rock smirked.

"Yeah, I know. I don't think I'm going to make it… through the night!" she groaned dramatically, pointedly falling onto the couch, so that her legs were laying on Mara's lap and her head on Patricia's.

"Oh, come on. Get up, you drama queen. You're worse than Amber," Patricia teased. Rock put her hands up to her throat and made a choking noise, pretending she couldn't breathe. Mara smacked her arm playfully.

"Ow, be nice," Rock said sitting up and putting her feet on the floor.

"Whatever," Patricia smiled. "Go find your boyfriend." Rock rolled her eyes and made her way to Jerome's room, making a point to drag her feet as if she were having trouble walking. Everybody laughed. "Get out of here!" Rock was about to walk into Jerome's room, when she made a spur of the moment decision. He hadn't been in the room when Nurse Delia had played that prank on them all. She cleared her throat and put on her best imitation of Patricia.

"Jerome, get out here, we have some bad news! It's about Rock!" she shouted through the door. Obviously her voice was a good imitation of _someone_, because the door flew open to reveal a worried looking Jerome. She stifled a laugh as his expression changed to shock.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked angrily, but even Rock could see the smile in his eyes.

"Yeah, I got asked the same thing when I did that to everyone else out there," she said. He smiled.

"You're turning into me," he said.

"No, you're worse. Much, much worse. Can I come in, or are you going to make me stand in the hallway? I just got out of the hospital." He moved out of her way and the two walked inside. He closed the door.

"So, are you going to live?" he asked her playfully.

"Possibly, maybe not."

"How long are you going to milk the 'I just got out of the hospital' bit?"

"…Until people stop believing me." He leered at her, and then there was silence. "So you were right about Roser," she said, her voice returning to seriousness. He looked at her, sitting on his bed while he randomly stood next to the door.

"Yeah."

"What are we going to do about her?"

"Well… that's just it, we can't really do anything. I wish we could, I mean I _really_ wish we could, but the only ones who know about Rufus are you, me, Nina, Fabian, Patricia, Amber and Alfie."

"Yeah… and Victor."

"Are you saying you want to tell Victor?"

"I… just don't know. We have a turncoat in the house, who is clearly spying for Rufus. It's not safe. Victor hates Rufus as much as we do. Why don't we tell him Rufus is back and that he tried to kill me? I mean, we don't have to tell him about the new clues or the new search. We don't have to say a thing about the elixir or the cup. He knows we know about Rufus, so we should tell him to be safe… Or maybe we should tell another teacher. I just think it's a bad idea to let Roser just go on like nothing's happened."

"Yeah, she's so stupid she thinks Rufus is the good guy."

"I know. She stole my phone. That's how she got in touch with him. I know that's how. I was wondering who answered him when he called and it wasn't me, so it must have been her when I left the room with Amber."

"Well, if you tell, I won't be upset, but you really need to think about what you say. We can't risk being caught by the teachers."

"I would definitely be careful. You know that."

* * *

Rock was just sitting on her bed, peacefully trying to read her book—trying, _trying _really hard! That was when Mara barged in; looking determined to find something out. Rock looked to see if Roser was in the room, only because she irritated her and she didn't want her intruding on the conversation.

"Hey, Mara," Rock said, casually.

"Rock," Mara replied, leaving off the 'hey.' Rock waited for her to continue.

"Um… What's up?" she asked finally.

"What's up? What's up? What's up is that I _know _Fabian isn't the one who choked you and I _know_ you're hiding something from me and I _know_ that Patricia, Jerome, Fabian, Nina, Amber, Alfie, and goodness forbid, Mick probably know whatever you know too."

"Mick doesn't know," Rock blurted. Rock gasped a little realizing what she'd just said.

"Doesn't know about _what?" _Rock's mouth moved but no words came out. Abruptly, she threw the book on the bed and stood up, pushing past the fuming Mara and running out of the room. She ran into the living room, making the Sibuna signal with her hand and hoping that everyone, except Mick would catch on.

"Nina's room, now," she hissed quietly. Mick, at the table, remained oblivious. The group ran out of the room and up the stairs. Trudy called after them asking what they were doing, but they didn't respond. They just continued running and finally made it to Nina's room where Rock shut the door with a sense of urgency.

"What's going on?" Nina asked. Rock looked stiff.

"Mara's suspicious. Now, I don't know if that's a big deal or not, but she knows we're hiding something and she is determined to find out what it is." Sibuna exchanged looks of concern.

"What else does she know?"

"Well, she said she knows that Fabian isn't the one that choked me and that I'm hiding something, that we're _all_ hiding something. Then she said she hoped Mick didn't know about it so I accidentally said that Mick didn't know and now she definitely knows, and—" There was a knock on the door.

"Rock, open this door now. I know you're in there!" Mara's voice called. Rock shut her eyes repentantly.

"No, I'm not," she called back stupidly, looking worried. Nina slapped her forehead with her palm and held it there. Fabian put his head in his hands.

"What?" Alfie mouthed to her. She shrugged quickly and made a 'my bad' face. Jerome ran his fingers through his hair.

"Patricia, how good is Mara at keeping secrets?" Nina asked.

"She can keep a secret if it's really important," Patricia said, looking slightly like she was just guessing. Nina didn't want to include Mara, it was obviously dangerous, but she knew that now Mara was never going to leave them alone.

"I'm sorry," Rock sighed dejectedly, sitting on the bed. Nina rolled her eyes, knowing it wasn't Rock's total fault, and walked over to open the door. Mara came walking in like a woman-on-a-mission. Nina closed the door behind her.

"I want to know what's going on," she commanded.

"Fine," Nina said. "We'll tell you."

* * *

"An elixir of life?" Mara asked. "That's ridiculous."

"You don't believe us," Patricia said. Mara looked at all of the faces in the room.

"No, I believe you. Jerome and Alfie's presence is making it hard but I believe you. It just sounds ridiculous. I mean, I always knew Victor was creepy but… that's just weird." Everyone nodded. Well, Rock still looked sad, but, everyone had forgiven her. After all, they knew that Mara's brains would be helpful in solving the mystery. "…And this man who choked Rock, he's after this elixir?"

"Yes, which is why we have to keep this a secret. If he gets it, there's no way to tell what he'll do."

"Well, if this new girl is on his side, don't you think you should tell Victor, or Mr. Sweet?"

"We should but, what if she tells him about everything we've found?"

"She doesn't know anything more than the fact that we have the cup," Rock said. "And I thought the teachers already knew that."

"She's right… telling them wouldn't be so bad."

"Let me go talk to Mr. Sweet then." Everyone looked at Rock, who was standing there looking hopeful. "He might not go straight to Victor, and I really think they should know that someone _inside_ the house is working for their enemy and trying to kill their students."


	11. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**Okay, normally, I do not do Authors' Notes, but I just have to explain my lack of updates to you all. **

**I was in the middle of writing Chapter 11, when I got up to get ready for bed, because it was late. In the time I was in the bathroom, my mother decided I was finished with what I was doing and shut off my computer. **

**It was mostly my fault, because I didn't save my document, and so, you can see where this is going. Chapter 11, which I know you all would have liked, was in fact, deleted; for good. I could not get it back. **

**This, to me, was sort of crushing, considering this was the longest I've ever stuck to a story. I am having difficulties now, gathering my inspirations for "House of Rock." **

**I am now going to take a break from this particular story, although I will try my best to get an 11****th**** chapter put together, and I am going to start a new HOA story. It will have a new main character, which is different from Rock, hopefully, and I can only wish that my new character, whose plans are already in the works, will appeal to you in the same way that Rock did. **

**I understand that most people did not like Rock at first; this was my intention. Rock is very hard to understand. She is not perfect as she may have seemed, but unfortunately, I did not get the chance to throw in more of her flaws. To me, she was more human than I am, but maybe that is just me, because I know her story and her secrets. **

**Again, my apologies and as soon as I can get Chapter 11 up and running, I will begin to update "House of Rock" once more.**


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